Summer Garden

Summer Color, Acrylic on canvas, 16"x20"

Lotus in Full Bloom

This painting is inspired by a picture that a friend took in Australia. It is done in watercolor pencil so the color is perhaps not as brilliant as with full strength watercolor. I am also working with limited tools -- just the pencils and a single brush -- since I have been traveling overseas (in snowy London) and carrying non-solid paints is not easy these days.

Anyway, there are layers of color here with some edges softened while others left with pencil marks intact. The idea is to convey a painterly rather than a drawn in feel to the picture.

Lotus in Full Bloom, Watercolor pencil on 140lb paper, 4"x6", $25 (unframed)

Old Fence

WARNING: Painting in watercolor can be addicting!

I have recently come back to watercolor after a break of almost a year. The speed with which paintings can be completed in watercolor and the fresh color that results are highly rewarding. Of course, mistakes are difficult (if not impossible) to correct. So not only must the artist be bold and confident but strive to be right with each stroke of color.

As I came close to finishing Old Fence, it seemed to me that the flowers were not bright enough so I used a bit of red and yellow gouache to give them more form. Otherwise the hardest part was sketching the fence and negative painting around it. I like the cheery end result. Tell me what you think.

Old Fence, Watercolor and gouache on 140lb paper, 9"x12', $30 (unframed)

Hibiscus

This piece was done as much as an exercise as it was to capture the beauty of one of my favorite flowers. Just a few minutes into the painting, I found myself vacillating between styles. Abstract or impressionist? Knife or brush? Light background to make the color pop or a dark background to make the center of interest more dramatic? Such are the choices one must make!

Going through the process of choosing made me start thinking about another piece on which I have worked for nearly 2 years. I have started and stopped, then gessoed over and started all over again three times. In painting Hibiscus, it clicked for me that perhaps the challenge with the bigger piece has just been insufficient forethought about the choices that make a painting work. Stay tuned to find out if I do better this time around.......

Happy New Year!

Hibiscus, Acrylic on canvas board, 11"x14", $50

Abstract flower

This painting is in the same series as Blue Flower. I think close-up paintings of flowers can appear to be a pure abstract of the form, color and tone of the flower. Colorful Mum was triggered by a vase full of brilliant chrysanthemums. Instead of trying to capture the beauty of the full arrangement, I chose to zoom in on part of one flower to fill this canvas.

Colorful Mum, Acrylic on canvas board, 8"X10", Not for sale